8.10.2012

News! Links! Thanks!: an update from the Summer of 2012

Well heya chums!

So I don't really know how many of you guys are still out there (and who could blame you?), but since I still get a fair amount of awesome emails and comments (and trust me, my perpetual amazement at the astoundingly cool readership of this this internet-ancient [not to mention "files deficient"] blog is a whole post unto itself), I thought it might be fun to do a little "not yet Halloween" type post.

What kind of post you ask? Well I dunno really, but I thought that since I've been sent and shown and run into so much great stuff over the last few months a mishmash of links might be nice, yeah?

(I mean sure, *ostensibly* my goal will be to share some links highlighting cool projects various "friends of Scar Stuff" have been doing, but secretly I plan on slipping in a few URLs that'll send you over to some junk I've been up to myself as well. Sneaky, right?)

If you've ever spent more than 5 seconds paging through the ads of a comic book from the 50's to the 80's you're going to be familiar with the terrain here, and what Demarais (who among zillions of other things is also the proprietor of the truly rad Secret Fun Spot site , and creator of an absurdly cool series of Film Family Portraits that you might have seen around) does is as overdue as it is simple -- he compares the promise of the ads with the reality of the product. That's right! Page after page of revelations regarding the Moon Monster, the U-Control Ghost, the Hercules Wrist Band, X-Ray Spex and more! more! more! Seriously, check this book out. And hey! Here's a nice interview with Kirk as well. You rule, Kirk!

In! Fact! Let's just give Trick or Treat Studios their own section, huh? If you've been following the independent mask scene at all you'll know that ToT has been assembled a truly dazzling line of talent under their roof. Justin Mabry (Nightowl Productions), Aaron Lewis, Erich Lubatti, Kelly Mann -- the list of amazing artists at Trick or Treat is huge. These guys have sculpted and designed some of the coolest independent (and often limited-run) monster masks of the last decade, and finding them all together and producing such fantastic work at affordable prices is very much cause for celebration. If you dig the mask scene but find yourself either disappointed at the mass-market selection or balking at the boutique prices, Trick or Treat is your solution.

And hey! S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G of monster masks, here's something I do now & then that I've really been meaning to throw onto Scar Stuff eventually: it's a collection of Monster Mask photos that I cajoled pho­tog­ra­pher Jackie Alpers into taking. Because I'm lazy, here's a re-run of the description I posted on my JasonWillis.com site:

"Osten­si­bly designed to show­case some of the really cool work being pro­duced by the inde­pen­dent mask mak­ing com­mu­nity, prob­a­bly some­what closer to the truth is that I secretly wanted a decent excuse to act out var­i­ous scenes and sit­u­a­tions involv­ing my ever-growing col­lec­tion of creepy latex heads.
Awwwwwww yeah."

So yeah, I hear what you're saying -- "Those monster mask pics are nice and all Jason, but they're really lacking something when it comes to the 'naked ladies' department." Well then! Why not check out Caleb Oglesby's "100% Not Safe For Work but Plenty Safe For Nightmares" series of Monster Girls? Pairing his amazing collection of monster mask latex with huge array of R-Rated models and settings, Caleb is clearly a man with a vision on a mission. Hi Caleb!

Another pal of mine who is consistently doing swell stuff is Mike Plante. He's got a fantastic distro for independent, avant-garde, cult & underground films called "Cinemad Presents", and runs a regularly updated blog that sheds even more light on the same scene. FROM there you'll find podcasts, video interviews and a lot more -- Mike is clearly a busy dude & he's doing great work when it comes to the world of personal and unique cinema. Goooo Mike!

And hey! Speaking of cinema (okay, admittedly I'm being a bit generous in my use of that term) let's talk a little more about ME for a sec, huh?

Here's a short film I made back in June of 2012 that profiles the perils and pitfalls of, you know, catnip. ABOUT TIME, RIGHT?

So yeah, the video is called "Catnip: Egress to Oblivion?" and it's a faux 1970's drug educational short largely inspired by the amazing archives that have been unearthed by the fine folks over at Something Weird Video over the years -- for a totally ridiculous project I honestly had a very great time putting this together. If you've got about 7 minutes to spare, won't you please give it a look see?

Ah hell, this is getting really long, isn't it? Tell you what -- let me just cram a couple of other little video shorts I've been doing in here as well and call it a day:

Here's a bogus "Old Timey" cover of MDC's 1982 hardcore classic "I Remember" that I did up in the style of the late 1920's vintage jazz/crooners -->

and here's a trio of time lapse setups that sorta represents a smattering of some of the junk I've been playing with in that arena -->

Okay is anyone still reading this? I should stop, huh?

Man! I swear that there are about 100 more things I want to share here (I'm making more & more music videos! People are hiring me to direct things! It's really cool!), but this is already about 5 times longer than I'd guessed at when I started typing. Much love to you all, and I hope to have one or two special treats ready for you come Halloweentime.

And seriously -- thanks again for all of the kind emails and sentiments over the years -- for a bunch of ghouls, monsters and banshees, you are also all truly, truly awesome.

I checked this blog around this time every year. I'll never forget all those amazing Halloween record downloads that I still listen to religiously every September through Halloween. Thank you for posting all of the records. By the way, is there anyway that you will be reposting any more Halloween records? I'm sure it will be a big hit. Or maybe you could create a torrent for people to download. I know a lot of people will appreciate all of those records as much as I have all these years. Thanks again!

It may be creepy, but I keep checking in, sorry I just missed the audio files. Your records were the stuff of my childhood. We wore out our Scholastic Haunted House 45, and I can still recite almost every word by heart.